Monday, July 21, 2008

After we arrived at the Courts, our "guide" had some words for us. He would not take us back unless we paid him even more. The man was starting to infuriate me. Surely, he should know he would be rewarded for his efforts, yet he insisted on discussing the details at every instance. He is lucky I do not kill him, but for now, he is needed.

After dealing with his "pay," I got down to business. The area we were in seemed to only be the outskirts of a once great city. The styles were primitive, and representative of a thousand worlds, yet the they were built and laid out with modern planning and detail. It was as if someone were building a replica of an ancient time.

I saw no technology, but signs of sorcery abounded. Some of the buildings were scarred with the remnants of eldritch might, while others were more worse for wear from the hands of looters. I tried to find an official building, but most of them seemed to be temples or other places of worship. The language was mostly my own, but I saw others as well.

The dog ran to and fro among the buildings while I explored, Anna and my guards at my side. Zorah simply slept on his rock, clearly uninterested in anything we might have found.

After many hours, my child approached me and asked if I had thought to bring food or water. She did not want to ask him, and I don't blame her. Unfortunately, I had not. And her question brought me back to think of the trifling details of my exploration.

As much as I hated to admit, the task before me required days, weeks, perhaps months or years of research, exploration, and sorcery. I would need to send out search parties, and carefully prepare spells to ferret out the information I needed. And this required my home...and the only man who could bring it here, Zorah.

I steeled myself for dealing with the unctuous man, and made arrangements for him to bring us back to The Floating Nile, and bring the Floating Nile here. While we journeyed back, I searched through my treasuries, pulling out long discarded implements of prayer and power. I would need them to prepare the spells I required.

The plan was simple, and yet utterly complex. The remainder of the poisonous ones would form search parties, and report to me the lay of the land. I would use the information in conjunction with my spells to find places of interest, which could be searched out in more detail.

It would long, and arduous, and I would hate every minute of it, but I had to know. I needed to find the secrets of my past.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Zesiro watched what remained of the Court of Chaos unfold before her. It was the first thing she had seen in her travels that truly rivaled The Floating Nile in both form and function. There was no doubt in her mind that this was the birthplace, if not of her body, certainly of her soul.

And yet, her soul cried out. The majesty that was the Courts was dead...a cold husk, burnt out and hollow. Indeed, there was no living thing amoung the wreckage, and as the slimy little man had said, anything of value had been looted long before.

She could only hope that the looters had overlooked something which would lead her to the next step on her path.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Zesiro watches the planet below grow smaller as her drop-ship speeds towards the Floating Nile.Ogmundr had insisted on staying to fight these savage “Orks,” and no amount of persuasion was changing his mind.The Artist had decided to stay as well, somehow swayed by Ogmundr’s battlelust.Even her child had left, returning to his strange flying moon.Only Anna remained.So be it.Together they would find these “Courts of Chaos.”Together they would unlock the secrets of the Queen’s heritage.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Much had changed in the last month. A step through the cards had brought fighting, and she had received her first wound. Prison followed on a loud, dirty planet of overwhelming order - bureaucratic accusations, discovery of "substance." She had found another child - a viper among men who killed those who reminded her of past hurts. The child told her much of "the way things were," or at least, what she felt them to be. Of particular interest were the thoughts that Zesiro and Taxchan were "Lords of Chaos."

Now, they waited in space above a planet newly conquered. Her armies had done well, and the performance of the barbarian was impressive. But he wished to travel onward, to continue conquest of this brave new world, and she was tired. Eager to discover the power that might await in the Courts of Chaos - to move on, now that he had his fun.

As their words became heated and altercations threatened, an agreement was reached. The Great Warlord would stay on the planet, accompanied by the vast majority of the legions, where he would wage war on this system until it was entirely under his control. The Mighty Queen would travel to the Courts, where she would find the answers she sought. Both would keep the paintings of the other, that contact would be maintained. And when the time came, they would reunite again, both victorious.